Goondaraj: Another Muslim youth beaten to death

Jharkand: Amid communal tensions on rise, a 20 year old Muslim boy was tied to a tree and thrashed to death for being in love with a Hindu girl, police said on Friday.

“The girl allegedly called the boy to meet her at Gumla town for the Ram Navami procession on Wednesday. Shakil initially refused but finally went to meet her and dropped her home back on his scooty,” said the police.

A group of neighbors saw Shakil and surrounded him, tied him to a tree and assaulted him for hours; the woman was quoted as saying by police. He succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.

Police said they arrested three people and lodged an FIR against unnamed people. “Though investigation is on, we were told by the villagers that the boy had been asked earlier not to meet the girl and never visit the village,” said Gumla superintendent of police Chandan Kumar Jha.

Activists in the neighboring state Uttar Pradesh have cried foul against Jharkhand’s decision to create Anti-romeo squads and seal illegal slaughterhouses, saying that the moves unfairly targeted the Muslim community.

Earlier this week, a Muslim man was lynched by a group of alleged cow protection vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar when he was transporting cattle. A group of men also forced a couple to shave their heads in Uttar Pradesh, one of a similar string of alleged moral policing incidents.

Shakil’s murder triggered tensions in Gumla town but police thwarted any violence by deploying hundreds of personnel. “The situation is under control,” Jha added.

“Two people came to my house and informed me that my son was being beaten up at Soso village. I informed police immediately. When we reached at the village, we found my son was critically injured,” Shakil’s father said.

Shakil was taken to Sadar hospital immediately. The hospital authority referred him to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi but he died on the way.